RB PBEM #1 - Mehmed (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

Hey Ruff,

So Taylor made the following counter-proposal last night:

I am free to resettle Damascus.
I give Kufah to you.
I send Economics to both you and Ruff.
We sign an NAP with a 10T cancellation and minimum term to at least T150.
You/Ruff gift rifling to both Soooo and Myself or you allow me to finish researching it and gift it to Soooo.
All other trade dealings with Soooo cease and the trade embargo will last the duration of this new NAP with you but not the trade embargo will not be renewed if our NAP is.
Oh and also you are not allowed to settle any further west then Kufah.

Key points are:

Damascus - I included this in the original offer. I really wanted rid of the culture pressure on Bursa and in the Lake. Having to start the city again from scratch should give me time to build up my own culture on the tiles in question so that when / if New Damascus does get to 4th ring I should still maintain control. Besides, the area will be culturally crushed by Medina and wouldn't be defensible if war broke out again.

Rifling - this is the key change to what I had offered. I offered to flip him Rifling, knowing that that would mean sooooo having to self-resarch it so the counter-offer is a good one. Of course I'd let him finish the research rather than gifting to both to force that delay.

Kufah - this secures us our second source of Iron, as well as a second source of Gems. It will have cultural difficulties with Baghdad at first, but is a pretty defensible spot. To the West there are Bananas, but I don't think I'd lose anything by allowing athlete to settle there ... I would specify that any city would have to be 3W of the Iron to minimise future cultural disputes.


So what do you think; is the deal good enough for us to want to take it and put an end to the fighting, or do we want to press into athlete's lands for more now that we have Cav & Rifles. Militarily, I am crushing him under weight of numbers however my civ has beensuffering from lack of development. My Northern stack will take a couple of turns to hea and re-group and then would march on Medina. If he keeps his Cuirassiers in the North, I should have no problem grinding down his defenders in Kufah and taking it in a few turns (I hope), but if he did move them South I might be able to strike at Medina.

As you can tell, I'm a bit in two minds about this, so your thoughts are welcome.

Dreylin.

[Dreylin]

Ruff's thoughts:

Hmm - Not completely happy with Sooooo getting rifling but there isn't much we can do about it if we continue to war. Either way, Sooooo will get rifling in about 6 or 7 turns. How about you include the provision that no gold change hands (that gold is part of the trade embargo). That might slow them down another turn or two.

Ruff

and another thought of mine:

I just had a thought; now that I've taken Damascus, the next logical move is towards Medina. I had a brief conversation with mh about that at the time, so now is probably a good opportunity to resurrect that and see if he wants to join in.

I can delay athlete a bit by saying that sooooo not getting Rifling was a key component of the offer and if he's going to insist on it then we may have to tweak the terms somewhat.

Dreylin.

[Dreylin]

My reply to athlete as sketched out to Ruff earlier:

Taylor,

Thanks for the clarification; I think I'd worked out the intent, and indeed I had not intended that the embargo be indefinite. Having said that, you must have worked out that sooooo not getting access to Rifling was a key component of the offer I made, so your insistance that he receive it from you changes the shape of the negotiations somewhat.

Clearly, if we do not sign peace then he will receive it anyway, however I gather that he has been sending gold to fund your research; if that were to cease as part of the embargo, do you have an ETA for completion of Rifling?

One further clarification; I am prepared to not settle further West than Kufah, on the understanding that any city you plant in that area be positioned at least 5tiles West of Kufah to minimise any cultural clash on the Iron location.

Andy.

[Dreylin]

and finally, a note to mh to see if he wants to become involved:

mh,

So how have your military observers been enjoying the war so far? 9-)

With the fall of Damascus, my attention is now turning further West towards Medina. We previously discussed whether you had any interest in taking part in the current conflict, and it seems like now is the time to return to those discussions. As I said at the time, if you were interested and able to supply a small to medium force to distract and split his focus, then the Medina site would be yours once the dust settles. Alternatively, if you did not want to become directly involved, then a gift of units at this critical juncture would be equally useful.

Also, did you have a chance to consider my offer for your spare Wines?

Dreylin II.

[Dreylin]

Well, not a lot of anything back from mh:

Hi Dreylin,
just a quick message, as I am coming down with a bad cold.
Wines for Sugar?
If you agree, please offer it in your turn.

mh

No metion at all of my Medina proposal, I wonder if that is significant...?

[Dreylin]

Inconclusive response from athlete:

Hey Andy,

I believe my eta for Rifling is 2 turns, possibly 3 I can't remember without the game in front of me. I would have to check to be sure. As well I will need to check about the settling agreement before deciding but that is probably reasonable. I did have a planned city site around there so if I find my city site is closer than 5 tiles could we agree to a perma trade of iron to you if I were to gain cultural control (unlikely but possible). As well with the destruction of Damascus my defecit research is much less now so I believe I currently have a surplus of gold to complete it and would refund Soooo the gold he gifted if that is the case. Thought you should know. I think that was everything so I will try and confirm the information tonight.

Taylor

[Dreylin]

t123 - Compass splash screen to open up.

A state funeral is held for Heroic HA who perished at the hands of an enemy Cuirassier, but no other counter-attacks took place.

athlete's Cuirassiers have retreated West to finish healing in a spot I cannot hit them, and from where they can reach either Medina or Kufah.

I don't see any new units in athlete's territory, so it looks like he's on big builds ... probably Cannon.

mh has canceled our trades, so I propose Wines-Sugar to him as discussed and (after consulting Ruff) I withdraw my Iron gift.

The healthy portion of the Northern stack moves back N to loop along the hills towards Medina. The 6 injured Janns promote and stay in place to heal.

Stacks converge on Kufah; 4Cannon, 9Janns & Pike now outside the walls. 2Janns & Cav are one turn behind, and a Rifle one behind that.

WW has started to hit and coupled with Draft anger, I'll knock the culture slider up to 10%. Rest is set to gold.

Ruff has gone to Mercantilism as well, but much as I'd like to revolt right now I don't want to do so until I can afford to ge out of Nationhood as well. Guess I'll stick in for now.

Ankara - Grocer, Konya - Cavalry, Sarmatian - Barracks, Izmir - Barracks. Draft: Diyarbakir.

[Dreylin]

Hey Andy,

Just to confirm, I am no more than 3 turns away from rifling and I can agree to settle no less then 5 tiles west of Kufah. If we are to accept peace I am considering the possibility of you/ruff gifting rifling to me and soooo and to ensure mh does not get it. Do you have any htoughts on that? Or are you more inclined to having me research it fully and send it to Soooo?

Taylor

So athlete is willing to freeze mh out of Rifling, but not sooooo. Well I'm inclined not to accept the peace at this point; mh is NAP'd out for another 18t minimum, and although Rifling is on his horizon, there is virtually no production left in his civ and no pop to draft from. My superior production (& existing army) should be sufficient to win this war.

Taylor,

I have no problem with mh receiving Rifling from either you or Ruff, but I think that sooooo not receiving it has to be a condition of any peace deal for the forseeable future. If you are committed to providing that tech to him, then I don't see how we can come to an arrangement at this point.

Andy.

[Dreylin]

t124 - Nothing much happening at start of turn:

Gaziantep complete Cavalry, starts Courthouse.

No news is good news from the logs, and athlete's Cuirassiers remain in place healing.

Northern stack moves towards Medina in 2 Groups:

3E of Medina are: 3Cannon, Cat, 5Jann, Cuir & GG HA.
SW of advance stack are: 6Jann, Rifle, Cavalry

Reinforcements a turn behind in my territory: Jann & 2Cannon.


OK, so let's attack Kufah:

Cannon vs Longbow @39% - dies
Cannon vs Musket @69% - withdraws
Cannon vs Musket @69% - dies
Cannon vs Musket @63% - withdraws
Jann vs Musket @57% - dies
Jann vs Musket @58% - wins
Jann vs Longbow @67% - wins
Jann vs Musket @68% - wins
Jann vs Musket @68% - wins
Jann vs Longbow @94% - wins
Jann vs Longbow @94% - dies
Jann vs Longbow @99% - wins
Jann vs Musket @99% - wins
Pike vs Musket @98% - wins

Well that went well.

Still 2Muskets & 1Longbow nearly-dead in the city, so will have to attack again next turn. 3 injured Janns remain S of Kufah, while the injured to the East (4Janns, 2Cannon, Pike) are joined by 2 fresh Janns & a Cavalry.

Of the Cuirassiers able to counter-attack, it looks like ~4 will be fully healthy andthe remaining 3 should be pretty-near. Will probably do some damage if they reinforce Kufah, but that would leave Medina virtually undefended.

I do spot athlete's first Cannon rolling out of Mecca, but that's 2t from Medina, and further than that from Kufah.

Bursa has grown into unhappiness even with a 10% culture slider, but that cannot be helped at this point. One the current Cannon completes, I may queue and multi-pop whip a Forge in. Most of the curret military builds will complete over the next 2t, so I think that may be the time to switch civics again.

Draft: Sarmatian & Izmir.

Ruff needs only ~50g for next turn, so I can run 60% science and complete Optics. It will be good to have a Caravel out and able to explore the remains of the Great Ocean ... and also keep a guard against sooooo.

[Dreylin]

Just got this from athlete:

No worries Andy! Bring it. I can't leave Soooo out to dry.

Sent a quick response:

Taylor,

Consider it brought.

Andy.